The chief engineer of experimental submarine Titan has revealed he refused to operate or travel in it due to “pressure” to rush its readiness.
Titan met a disastrous end while en route to the wreckage of the Titanic, imploding 3,500m beneath the sea surface and killing all five people on board.
The sub’s engineer, Tony Nissen, gave his testimony in court on Monday, recounting a chilling memory where he attempted to warn Oceangate founder and billionaire, Stockton Rush.
READ MORE: Titan submarine crew sent three haunting words in final text before horror death
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“I’m not getting in it,” Nissen remembered telling Rush. As the first image of the Titan submarine resting on the ocean floor was unveiled, Nissen also shared that his ex-boss was often “a challenging figure” consumed with budget limitations and deadlines, among other issues.
“Most people would eventually just back down to Stockton,” Nissen stated during the trial in North Charleston, South Carolina. He described how Rush would doggedly push his varying demands, leading to disputes that Nissen chose to handle privately to avoid company-wide disruption.
The Coast Guard hearing expected to last two weeks. The devastating implosion of the Titan on June 18, 2023, led to the deaths of all five passengers and ignited an international debate over the safety and future of privately funded deep-sea expeditions.
Addressing the intense push to get the Titan underwater, he said: “100%.”
(Image: PA)
Nissen claimed that after some additional testing and tweaks, the Titan submersible was good to go for later Titanic missions. Despite this, he wouldn’t pilot the Titan, saying he didn’t trust the ops crew.
He said the Titan had been zapped by lightning on a 2018 test run, hinting at possible structure issues. Nissen also mentioned getting the boot in 2019 right after he said nope to sending the glitchy Titan to the Titanic.
When grilled about if Stockton’s pressure impacted safety measures and tests, Nissen paused before hitting back, “No. And that’s a difficult question to answer, because given infinite time and infinite budget, you could do infinite testing.”
Coast Guard bods in their first dibs of talking points mentioned the submersible was left out to brave the elements for seven months over the course of 2022 and 2023 without a good look-over of its exterior by outside pros, which is kinda the usual drill. This hands-off checkup, plus the Titan’s one-of-a-kind build, had experts giving it the side-eye.
The last word from the sub came as a flurry of texts about how deep it was going and how heavy it felt during the dive. Then the Polar Prince got radio silence despite firing off a bunch of messages to suss out if the Titan still had visuals of the liner on its screens.
The Marine Board of Investigation, the most serious form of marine casualty investigation carried out by the Coast Guard, is currently in progress. Once concluded, recommendations will be forwarded to the commandant of the Coast Guard.
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